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<br />
Even in this age of jet travel and space tourism, highways hold an irresistible charm for travellers out to have an up, close and personal experience of the wide roads stretching ahead for miles, uninterrupted views of a breathtaking landscape, the occasional flyways and the not-so-familiar villages and towns rushing by. It’s even better than chugging along the countryside in a train. You can stop any time you want – to sample some chatpati chaat and a steaming cuppa of <em>chai</em> at a roadside <em>dhaba</em>; to talk to people; to take a dekko at local interests or simply laze an hour or two in shine or rain with the greens around you and the fresh smell of soil floating in the air.<br />
<br />
Now that our <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Chugging-Up-7-Mesmerising-Mountain-Train-RidesIn-India/articleshow/24288850.cms">train series</a></strong> is over (but we promise to bring you more as soon as new and exotic routes come up), we are back with a more exciting roadmap of <keyword id="168020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="expressways">expressways</keyword> that criss-cross the entire country, connecting the four metros and many of the Tier I cities, and going much beyond the urban landscape. Infrastructure development in India has undergone a sea change over the past few years and the country currently boasts the <keyword id="2034191" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Second-largest-road-network">second largest road network</keyword> in the world, with a road length of over 4,689,842 km, as per 2013 data from the <keyword id="6404450" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ministry-of-Road-Transport-and-Highways">Ministry of Road Transport and Highways</keyword>.<br />
<br /> Starting from FY2012-13, the <keyword id="44734" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indian-Government">Indian government</keyword> will be also putting $17 billion over the next five years, being sourced through public-private partnership (<keyword id="6361580" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="PPP">PPP</keyword>) road projects. This will be used by the <keyword id="87432" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-Highways-Authority-of-India">National Highways Authority of India</keyword> (<keyword id="49448" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="nhai">NHAI</keyword>) for the planned series of <keyword id="174913" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="BOT">BOT</keyword> (build, operate and transfer) highways. In spite of several bottlenecks, the NHAI has set up impressive targets and aims to develop 20 km/day, in a bid to fast-track the country’s <keyword id="2034194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Road-network-expansion">road network expansion</keyword>.<br />
<br /> As of July 2013, <keyword id="6373156" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-Highways">national highways</keyword> account for 79,116 km, connecting all major cities and state capitals. Expressways, however, differ a bit in the sense they are controlled-access highways like the <keyword id="610047" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="freeways">freeways</keyword> or <keyword id="1333990" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="motorways">motorways</keyword> or autobahnen in the US and Europe, essentially designed for high-speed traffic. As of now, most of the expressways in India are 6-8 lane <keyword id="120837" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="toll-roads">toll roads</keyword> and cover a total distance of nearly 1,208.19 km. India expects to add another 3,530 km of expressways by 2014 as projects under construction get completed. Another massive programme is also under way to expand the network and the Indian government plans to add an additional 18,637 km of expressways by 2022.<br />
<br /> So are you ready to emerge on another breath-taking <keyword id="6374782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="journey">journey</keyword> with us, literally a journey of thousand miles and more? We will bring you the super expressways zone-wise – so that you know which route to choose when travelling North or South, East or West. And it will be a beautiful journey as art and cultural critic <keyword id="2034192" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dave-Hickey">Dave Hickey</keyword> so rightly said – Beauty is and always will be blue skies and open highway.<br />
<br />
<strong>Image:</strong> Wikimedia Commons

8 Super Expressways
In North India That Fulfil Your Need For Speed

<p>America's leaders are old and getting older. And across Congress, the judiciary, and the executive branch, government is becoming less and less reflective of the youthful society it represents. "Red, White, and Gray" explores the costs, benefits, and dangers of life in a democracy helmed by those of advanced age, where issues of profound importance to the nation's youth and future — technology, civil rights, energy, the environment — are largely in the hands of those whose primes have passed. </p><h2><strong>When government grows old</strong></h2><p>Investigating the price that's paid when aged leaders lead a youthful nation.</p><h2>Read more from 'Red, White, and Gray'</h2><p>Learn how the decisions of the United States' gerontocracy affect all Americans.</p><h4>Credits:</h4><h6><u>Reporters:</u> C. Ryan Barber, Camila DeChalus, John L. Dorman, Kayla Gallagher, Nicole Gaudiano, Brent D. Griffiths, Madison Hall, Hanna Kang, Jake Lahut, Kimberly Leonard, Bryan Metzger, Elvina Nawaguna, Grace Panetta, Eliza Relman, Warren Rojas, Oma Seddiq <br /><br /><u>Project editor:</u> Dave Levinthal<br /><br /><u>Data editor:</u> Walt Hickey<br /><br /><u>Story editors:</u> Darren Samuelsohn, Rhea Mahbubani, Taylor Berman, Rebecca Harrington, Sam Fellman<br /><br /><u>Design, development, and art:</u> Skye Gould, Jenny Chang-Rodriguez, Taylor Tyson, Annie Fu, Kazi Awal, Shayanne Gal, Tien Le, Vicky Leta, Rebecca Zisser, Rachel Mendelson, Marianne Ayala, Tyler Le, Anna Kim<br /><br /><u>Video:</u> Havovi Cooper, Sima Sadykhov<br /><br /><u>Distribution and communications:</u> Tanita Gaither, Amanda Howard, Victoria Gracie, Tyler Murphy, Rachael Lupton<br /><br /><u>Copy editors:</u> Kevin Kaplan, Nick Siwek, Emma LeGault, Jonann Brady</h6>

How the US government has become a gerontocracy as the gap between old leaders and young Americans grows wider and wider

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Former Vice President Joe Biden came in fourth place in the Iowa caucuses with about 13% of the vote, according to preliminary results released Tuesday evening. </li><li>Biden came behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. As of 5:15 pm on Tuesday, Sanders and Buttigieg led with 62% of precincts reporting. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Former Vice President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iowa-caucus-2020-live-results-vote-counts-updates-2020-2">came in fourth place in the Iowa caucuses</a> with about 13% of the vote, according to preliminary results released Tuesday evening, underperforming his recent polling. </p><p>Biden came behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. As of 5:15 pm on Tuesday, Sanders and Buttigieg led with 62% of precincts reporting. </p><p>The results came after an approximately 20 hour delay as a result of a malfunctioning mobile app. </p><p>Recent polls of the state showed the leading four candidates bunched closely together in the double-digit range. Biden led, or was among the top candidates, in recent polls. </p><p>There are a host of reasons why Biden may have struggled in Iowa.</p><p>For one, his base of support is concentrated among older voters, who are less likely to participate in a caucus than they are to vote. Iowa caucus-goers are disproportionately younger than the average Democratic primary voter. Candidates like former President Barack Obama, whose base was disproportionately young and progressives, traditionally do better in the Iowa contest.</p><p>Crucially, Biden is leading among black Democratic primary voters - something that wasn't reflected in Iowa, one of the whitest states in the country. </p><p>But Biden's results in Iowa are surprising in part because of how central the notion of "electability" has become in the Democratic primary. A broad swath of primary voters say they'll support the candidate they believe has the best shot at beating the president in November. </p><p>A <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/284156/trump-job-approval-personal-best.aspx">Gallup poll</a> released on Tuesday found that 56% of Democrats and Democratic leaning respondents preferred a candidate who has the best chance of beating Trump, while just 42% preferred a candidate who agrees with them on the issues. </p><p>While Biden has pitched himself as an electable candidate in the general election, rather than the primary, such a disappointing showing in Iowa has the potential to undermine his case and slow some of his momentum going forward. </p><p>According to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2020-election-methodology">INSIDER's recurring poll,</a> Democrats believe Biden is the strongest general election candidate. For most candidates, a majority of respondents are unsure of how the person would fare in the general, but not Biden. Among those who said they were probably Democratic primary voters, typically about about two thirds say they think Biden would win, which is roughly double the overall average for the Democrats in the poll.</p><p>But because Iowa just accounts for 1% of the country's delegates, it's entirely possible for a candidate to not come in first or win many delegates in Iowa at all, and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-01-17/iowa-caucuses-you-don-t-have-to-win-to-be-the-winner-k5i4po5h">go on to win the nomination</a>, just as Trump did in 2016 after Sen. Ted Cruz won Iowa.</p><p><em>Grace Panetta and Walt Hickey contributed to this report.</em></p>

Joe Biden flopped in the Iowa caucuses despite a strong showing in recent polling

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Michael Hickey/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Darryl Williams of the Mississippi State Bulldogs is wheeled off of the field after sustaining an injury against the Kentucky Wildcats</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The dangers of football are becoming more and more of a focal point of conversations around the future of the sport. In the NFL we've seen multiple players retire early out of concerns for their health, and as the effects of CTE become better understood, chances are those numbers will increase.</p><p>Ed Cunningham is a former NFL player and knows the risks involved in the sport first hand, and recently stepped down from his job as an ESPN college football color analyst out of concerns for player safety. Cunningham <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/sports/espn-ed-cunningham-football-concussions.html?smid=tw-nytsports&amp;smtyp=cur&amp;_r=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told the New York Times</a> that, "<span>I can just no longer be in that cheerleader's spot."</span></p><p><span>Cunningham went on to specifically cite CTE as his main point of conflict with continuing at his position, having known several players that suffered in their years after their time in football and a few players that ended their own lives prematurely who were later found to have the disease.</span></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>"In its current state, there are some real dangers: broken limbs, wear and tear" Cunningham said. "But the real crux of this is that I just don't think the game is safe for the brain. To me, it's unacceptable."</span></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>...</span></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>"I know a lot of people who say: 'I just can't cheer for the big hits anymore. I used to go nuts, and now I'm like, I hope he gets up,'" Cunningham said. His eyes welled with tears. "It's changing for all of us. I don't currently think the game is safe for the brain. And, oh, by the way, I've had teammates who have killed themselves. Dave Duerson put a shotgun to his chest so we could study his brain."</span></p><p><span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-sapp-donating-brain-to-research-football-2017-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ex-players</a> have been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bo-jackson-never-would-have-played-football-health-risks-2017-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more vocal</a> of late regarding concerns over concussions, and Cunningham's decision will likely not be the last of its nature; as more information comes to light about the relationship between football and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/former-nfl-players-brains-high-rates-cte-2017-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the long-term effects of concussions</a>, other people in positions associated with the sport might begin to step down for similar ethical reasons.</span></p><p><span>Cunningham told the Times that he was free from the symptoms of CTE, and hopes to spend more time with his young children. You can read the full story <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/sports/espn-ed-cunningham-football-concussions.html?smid=tw-nytsports&amp;smtyp=cur&amp;_r=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.</span></p>

'I just don't think the game is safe for the brain' - ESPN college football analyst quits over concern for players' safety

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mike Groll/AP Photo</span></p><p class="caption">In this Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016 photo, Zander Spurr, a fifth grader at St. Mary's Academy, drinks water from a water bottle that has been set up in the school in Hoosick Falls, New York.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Water contamination in an upstate New York village has brought officials' handling of early information under <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/EPA-and-state-warned-of-Hoosick-Falls-water-6812774.php">scrutiny</a>.</p><p>Just as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-flint-michigan-dangerous-2016-1">lead in the water in Flint, Michigan</a> took over a year to gain widespread attention, Hoosick Falls' battle with a synthetic contaminant has been quietly unfolding largely outside the public eye since late 2014. Despite cleanup efforts, recent testing suggests that the crisis is not over.</p><p>The village, with a population of 3,500, has been battling elevated levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the municipal water supply - an <a href="http://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-04/documents/factsheet_contaminant_pfos_pfoa_march2014.pdf">"emerging contaminant"</a> that poses "potential adverse effects for the environment and human health," according to the EPA.</p><p>The contaminant <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf/2016/01/hoosick_falls_cancer_tap_water_epa.html">has also been linked </a>to a number of diseases, including kidney and testicular cancer. Michael Hickey, a resident who brought concerns about PFOA to the village board and mayor, began researching the link between the chemical and cancer after his own father died unexpectedly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/nyregion/fears-about-water-supply-grip-village-that-made-teflon-products.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur">of kidney cancer</a>. </p><p>The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) is now <a href="https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/investigations/hoosick/">investigating</a> the possibility of elevated cancer rates in the village. The state is also investigating the potential <a href="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2016/03/8592457/state-pollution-investigation-hoosick-falls-widens">spread of contaminants</a> to nearby towns.</p><p>But despite efforts to mitigate the contamination, elevated - in some cases increased - PFOA levels have <a href="http://www.villageofhoosickfalls.com/Water/testing.html">still been detected</a> in recent months and questions remain as to how so many months were allowed to pass before officials warned the public against drinking the water.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mike Groll/AP Photo</span></p><p class="caption">In this Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016 photo, Michael Hickey poses near Hoosick Falls municipal well 7 between two baseball fields in Hoosick Falls.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>'W<span>e don't know how long you have been drinking contaminated water'</span></h2><p>In late 2014, village officials, tipped off by Hickey, tested water samples and found that 1 of the the 3 tested had a concentration of PFOA above the EPA's provisional guideline of 400 parts per trillion (ppt).</p><p>In statements to media and letters to residents, village officials stressed that the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/pfoa-pfos-provisional.pdf">EPA's provisional health advisory</a> for PFOA did not set an "enforceable standard" for safe drinking water levels and that the town was in compliance with what relevant regulation did exist.</p><p>Some state officials, for their part, <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/Officials-critical-of-alerts-about-Hoosick-Falls-6822266.php">say</a> that they were not made aware of the situation as early as the village claims. The village website's <a href="http://www.villageofhoosickfalls.com/Water/timeline.html">timeline</a> of events was still being corrected, according to Hoosick Falls Mayor David Borge, during the reporting of this story.</p><p>In any case, citing the test results, the NYSDOH <a href="http://www.villageofhoosickfalls.com/Media/PDF/RiskCharacterizationAndHealthEffectsLanguageForPFOA.pdf">told village officials</a> that the PFOA concentration in Hoosick Falls' public water "does not constitute an immediate health hazard." At the time, the state grouped PFOA with other "unspecified organic contaminants," which meant that up to 50,000 ppt was considered acceptable in water, 125 times the level advised by the EPA.</p><p>Nearly a year later, in December 2015, the EPA issued its own <a href="http://www.villageofhoosickfalls.com/Media/PDF/EPAStatementHoosickFallsWaterContamination.pdf">public notice</a> explicitly recommending residents not drink the water in Hoosick Falls. A letter weeks earlier from the EPA to Borge cited new June test results obtained by the NYSDOH which found PFOA levels above 600 ppt in public water.</p><p>EPA spokesperson Mary Mears claims that the EPA did not receive the June test results until the agency reached out to the NYSDOH in the fall. </p><p>Judith Enck, the EPA regional administrator who wrote the agency's letter to Borge, was only made aware of the Hoosick Falls situation in October when an attorney representing concerned citizens reached out to her, the Albany Times Union <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/EPA-and-state-warned-of-Hoosick-Falls-water-6812774.php">reported</a>. At a town meeting, Enck <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Concerned-citizens-pack-Hoosick-Falls-water-6760001.php">apologized</a> to residents:</p><p>"I'm sorry that we don't know how long you have been drinking contaminated water," Enck said. "No medical studies or surveys have been done in Hoosick Falls. Action should be taken to protect your health."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mike Groll/AP Photo</span></p><p class="caption">Hoosick Falls Mayor Dave Borge speaks during a news conference on his village's contaminated drinking water on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, in Hoosick Falls.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Hoosick Falls Mayor David Borge claimed that the village was first informed of the June test results over the phone in August. He referred Business Insider to NYSDOH officials for details on the distribution of the department's June results, but state officials have not yet provided comment to Business Insider.</p><p>Borge noted that the EPA's <a href="http://www.villageofhoosickfalls.com/Media/PDF/EPA-PFOA-letter-112515.pdf">November 2015 letter</a> - its first recommendation against drinking the water - contradicted the earlier information provided by the NYSDOH.</p><p>"Since first learning about this issue in August 2014, officials from the Village of Hoosick Falls have pursued two goals: ensuring a clean, safe water supply for our residents and identifying the source or sources of PFOA in local groundwater so it can be cleaned up," Borge said by email.</p><p>Hickey is hesitant to place blame on single party - including Borge - for the delayed recommendation to avoid the water, citing instead the lack of cooperation between the various agencies involved. But he did seem shocked at the NYSDOH's response to the information they were supplied with.</p><p>"It seems like [the NYSDOH] just wanted to go the easy way out and stand behind the maximum of 50,000 ppt," Hickey told Business Insider. He said that the department seemed not to know what to do with an unregulated contaminant, but called the initial response "pure laziness."</p><h2>Aftermath</h2><p>Saint-Gobain, a construction materials company, and Honeywell have been named <a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/105069.html">formally responsible</a> for the contamination. Water samples near the Saint-Gobain's Hoosick Falls Plant, though not in the public water supply, had been shown to have PFOA concentration as high as 18,000 ppt. Honeywell previously owned the site of the plant.</p><p>Saint-Gobain has agreed to fund bottled water until a permanent replacement is installed. It will also fund filters installed in the existing water treatment system.</p><p>The state Department of Environmental Conservation, moreover, made an emergency classification of PFOA as a hazardous substance in order to unlock funding for water filtration systems, free water sample tests, free blood tests, and additional planning for a "possible alternate water supply."</p><p>Since the contamination looks to have spread to private wells and nearby areas, Hickey isn't optimistic about new water sources: "I think it's probably going to be a longer process."</p><p>The state DEC says it has made <a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/105254.html">"significant progress"</a> in the search for new water sources.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mike Groll/AP Photo</span></p><p class="caption">In this Jan. 21, 2016 file photo, the Hoosic River runs through the village of Hoosick Falls, N.Y.</p></div><p></p></div></div>In January, the EPA issued a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-01/documents/epa_statement_on_private_wells_in_the_town_of_hoosick.pdf">new statement</a>, indicating that private well owners who have not tested their water or else found their water to test above <em>100</em> ppt-not 400-should stick to bottled water for drinking and cooking. This time, Mayor Borge and the state health department have expressed <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Feds-Don-t-drink-water-6791888.php">agreement</a> with the EPA.</p><p>"I want to caution residents that the EPA's recommendation to refrain from using the municipal water for drinking and cooking still remains in effect," Borge was quoted as saying. "It will likely take another few weeks for NYSDOH to conduct a rigorous sampling program to ensure the carbon filtration system is effectively removing PFOA from the water."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-vs-rubio-water-bottle-rally-2016-2">Trump and Rubio are trying to one-up each other with these incredible insults </a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="5xYXNkMTE6RCsXHxIN1TffJXW30z1aRz" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Officials took months to warn residents of a tiny New York village of an impending disaster in their water supply

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>Three young girls won the Google <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> fair on September 22 with their innovative way to feed the world: treat plants with bacteria to help farmers grow more food, faster - without genetic modification.</p>
<p>"By the year 2050 we actually need 50 percent more food just to feed everyone," Emer Hickey, one of the three winners, told <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/budding-scientist/2014/09/23/girls-with-a-plan-to-ease-world-hunger-win-top-science-award/">Scientific American</a>.</p>
<p>Hickey worked with her classmates Ciara Judge and Sophie Healy on their project. The three teenage girls, who live in Ireland, were simultaneously learning about plants and world hunger. Their project "<a href="https://www.googlesciencefair.com/projects/en/2014/b69203da66c44d96e4fb3d6fd88d47a6eb3c927805255d7f4c7c439fddd9c256">Combating the global food crisis: Diazotroph Bacteria As a Cereal Crop Growth Promoter</a>" aims to tackle issues of world hunger by exploiting a curious relationship they found between bacteria and certain plants.</p>
<h2>Beneficial bacteria</h2>
<p>After 11 months of hard work and dedication, the three teen microbiologists discovered that they could make crops yield more food and shorten the time it takes a plant to sprout from a seed - a process called germination. They shorten this time by infecting the crops with a bit of bacteria that's been known to be advantageous to other crop plants.</p>
<p><strong>Their results have huge implications for increasing agricultural productivity and easing world hunger.</strong></p>
<p>The key to their success is a type of bacteria called rhizobia, which lives inside nodules, or the little nubs you sometimes see on plant roots. While we usually think of bacteria as dangerous, these are actually helpful to the plants. By converting nitrogen from the air into helpful compounds like ammonia, the bacteria aid plant growth.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Hickey and her mother had found these nodules on the pea plants in their garden. Not understanding what they were, Hickey brought one of the plants to her science teacher, who told her their benefits to plant growth.</p>
<p>These nodules are only found on certain plants including peas and beans. But the girls wondered, why wouldn't these bacteria be beneficial to other species? - specifically grains like barley and oats, which are integral to our food supply.</p>
<p>It turns out no one had studied what the bacteria might do for non-legume plants, particularly during stages of germination. So, the girls went to work.</p>
<h2>A root-hacking plan</h2>
<p>They attacked their work with meticulous detail. Using homemade equipment, they chose to test rhizobia's affects on barley and oat seeds. In order to do this, the girls had to grow the bacteria and then infuse them into the seeds, which took many hours of preparation.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>After prepping the seeds, they incubated the seeds and checked them every six hours to measure how long it took germination to take place.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Before conducting a large-scale growing trial, they covered their bases and completed a small-scale trial where in the plants grew for only two weeks before harvesting.</p>
<p>The success of the small-scale trial gave way to a larger trial. For that, the girls grew the plants in boxes in Judge's backyard garden for six weeks.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Once the crops had grown for six weeks, the girls harvested the plants, dried them, and weighed them to determine overall crop yield.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>They repeated these steps over 11 months, <strong>tested more than 10,000 seeds, and recorded more than 120,000 individual measurements</strong>. When they were finished, they discovered that by infusing their seeds with rhizobia bacteria, the plants germinated in half the amount of time compared to seeds without rhizobia. Moreover, they measured that the mass of the plants increased by as much as 70 percent.</p>
<h2>An agricultural enterprise</h2>
<p>In 2011, the award-winning teens first became aware of the deep impact that a lack of food can have on the world. The Horn of Africa famine in 2011 threatened livelihoods of nearly 10 million people in East Africa countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya.</p>
<p>"The idea for our project was inspired by this problem and our desire to make a difference," they state in an outline of their <a href="https://www.googlesciencefair.com/projects/en/2014/b69203da66c44d96e4fb3d6fd88d47a6eb3c927805255d7f4c7c439fddd9c256">Google Science Fair project</a>.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>Winning te grand prize of Google's fourth annual science fair is just another step forward for the girls. Next, they plan to better understand their results by investigating why the rhizobium bacteria they tested leads to higher crop yields and faster germination rates.</p>
<p>All three are currently considering careers in the biological sciences, and the scholarships they earned through Google's Science Fair will certainly come in handy when they enter college within the next few years.</p>
<p>Their Google science fair triumph got them each a $50,000 college scholarship, a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands through National Geographic Expeditions, and a $10,000 grant for school.</p>
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You Searched For "Dave Hickey" and got 6 results

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